FRAGMENT FROM NATURE focuses on a part of Earth’s violent history called the Great Unconformity. This wax the pre-Cambrian period when 3-5 VERTICAL KILOMETERS got erased from the surface of the globe. Geologists argue whether it was due to the persistent glaciation of Snowball Earth, or whether then melting ice caused a massive flood, or a combination of both. Either way, it single-handedly could explain the missing fossil history and the otherwise inexplicable Cambrian explosion. It seems that this truly epic story has been buried in obtuse geology writings and that biologists have paid it scant attention.